How Could This Tragedy Happen?

A shooting in an elementary school is horrific and unjustifiable and leaves many feeling puzzled. The answers sought after hit to some of the most fundamental questions plaguing society since Babylon. The most pertinent involve an explanation of the mechanism. How? How could this happen? How could someone do this? Why would they do it?

The witch hunts and scapegoats identified will most likely fall short of providing an adequate explanation to match the sadness and hate now felt by so many as a result of this event. I am going to attempt to provide an explanation and this explanation will still fall short but I hope it to be the most accurate explanation and I hope it will help you wrap your head around the nature of Evil.

Evil is an interesting thing. We are shown evidence of it every day yet we try to deny that it exists within humans and this viewpoint seems to do a disservice as it prevents us from recognizing and fighting Evil. The actions then taken to prevent further tragedies miss the mark because of the unwillingness to accept that some humans are intrinsically evil and predestined to cause evil before they are born.

The implications of such a thought create turmoil in our traditional views of religion and because of this discomfort we tend to minimize things. In other words… we get it and we see the examples yet we remain purposefully oblivious to this evil because it is too uncomfortable to think about. Yet, facing this discomfort could yield the solution to preventing these tragedies. http://www.systemsthinker.com/interests/ponerology/

There are a number of factors, many of which are interconnected and mutually
reinforcing, and some of which have been previously mentioned, that can, and, in various systems throughout history, have contributed to diminished resistance to the threat of pathological dominance. These include:

* Lack of public awareness of the very existence of the pathological

* Misunderstanding among the public about the nature of and significance of the threat posed by the pathological

* Denial regarding pathology and its impact among those who have not personally perceived being affected and, lacking direct conscious experience, doubt its reality or importance

* Denial, as well as other defense mechanisms, employed by those who have been impacted by pathology but have not come to terms with or resolved that experience and, thus, continue to relegate certain aspects of it to their subconscious or unconscious

* Widespread and paralyzing conceptions that evil either simply cannot be understood at all or can only be understood through appeals to supernatural influence – Both of these beliefs can stifle the curiosity required to drive new investigation and learning about the actual role of psychopathology in the genesis of evil.

* Underestimation within the social sciences of the role pathologies play in various destructive processes – This has contributed to and helped to validate the aforementioned lack of public awareness, understanding and acceptance

* Difficulty identifying the pathological – Despite their vast differences from normals, and contrary to stereotypes, the pathological are usually not easily identifiable monsters. They can include highly respected figures in any and all areas of society, including the mental health field itself. They have even included some famous individuals and world leaders who Lobaczewski discusses. This can make it difficult for many in the public to recognize who is pathological and challenging for them to accept that even people they have admired and respected greatly could actually be pathological. In addition, other issues can blind people in ways that inhibit their pathology detection skills, including certain illnesses that can render people vulnerable to particular well-honed manipulative tactics.

* Para-appropriate Responses – For a variety of reasons, many normals, when encountering harmful manifestations of pathology, tend, perhaps understandably, to respond:

* Emotionally, with sadness and rage

* Moralistically, condemning the perpetrator as an inferior enemy and impulsively calling for revenge

Such styles of reaction may feel and seem appropriate. And there certainly is a place for some of these emotions in healthy grieving. However, they are, in and of themselves, actually highly ineffective. They stem from the misguided tendency to respond to and judge the pathological as if they are simply malicious, misbehaving normals and fail to account for or motivate effective addressing of the core issue – the pathological medical condition underlying the harmful actions. Thus, they ultimately make about as much sense as pounding one’s fist and ordering a cancer or an infection to go away.

Regardless of how immediately relieved we may feel due to the catharsis of expressing such reactions, emotionalism and moralism alone, in the long run, provide us with no actual wisdom about or capacity for practically resisting the threat of the pathological and, in fact, can serve as barriers to critical understanding.

For these reasons, such responses are not as appropriate as they seem and ultimately leave us more helpless in the face of the danger of pathological dominance. Therefore, Lobaczewski refers to them as “para-appropriate,” rather than appropriate, responses.

Overly forgiving responses – While some respond to pathologically driven harm with para-appropriate outrage and condemnation, others, at the opposite extreme, preach a sort of across the board form of forgiveness that discourages even potentially effective forms of resistance against the pathological. Many of the pathological are well aware that certain normals hold such an enabling philosophy and stand ready to encourage and exploit it at every opportunity.

The pathological referred to in the excerpt is the psychopath. Statistics put the number of pathological at between 4 -6%. While this number may seem small, in terms of mental health conditions it would make it second only to depression and the numbers are higher than many diseases we consider epidemic. At the low end this number is one in twenty five people. Chances are that when one rides on the bus, gets on a train, sits down at work, and goes shopping they are surrounded by more than twenty five people which then makes it likely that there exists a psychopath in each of these settings. The last party you threw probably had twenty five people and thus, by playing the odds, you had a psychopath at this party. The psychopath causes evil as a result of a condition biologically manifested and shown reliably in MRIs and genetic testing. Some cause less Evil than others.

I am going to give you a glimpse into a belief of mine. This belief is best supported by anecdotal evidence than any scientific theory although it is certainly testable. The psychopathic mindset thrives upon the removal of the free will of non-psychopathic people. This can be done through several methods be it aggressive actions and threats, violating the rights of others, manipulation, using money to gain control, intimidation, frustration, or any number of other tactics. The extent of this can vary between wanting to control your spouse to controlling the actions of coworkers (or subordinates) to wanting to control an entire country. On top of this, the psychopath is completely absent of showing empathy… feeling for anyone else… and in this selfishness controlling becomes dominating and it is done without regard for the feelings of anyone.

The irony behind this is that the pathological person, the psychopath, seems to be a slave to their baser desires at all time and thus they themselves lack the free will they wish to take from others. They will resist being controlled by any other person at all costs. They will be oppositional and defiant (psychopaths in training are often diagnosed in their teens as having ODD or Oppositional Defiant Disorder) to authority but seek to be in a position of authority.

Let us look at this particular tragedy of the school shooting of kindergartners Not much is known about the shooter at this point in time but I can tell you the motivation still. The motivation was control… the removal of free will. There is most likely 1 particular target for this control… one person that had free will… that didn’t bow to this person… and this shooting was this pathological person’s way of removing that free will. But it goes beyond that, as you will see, because this person killed several others as well as himself. It may be difficult to grasp but this was simply him gaining the pleasure of removing the free will of these others while he was already going all in to remove the free will of this one special target. He enjoyed the thought of making people cry… of removing the free will of these small children by no longer allowing them to live… and of causing this misery. Finally, knowing that this action would have consequences he turned the gun on himself because no one could then teach him a lesson and in turn control him. This made him God and allowed him to unseat God.

To further support this theory we have the story of the fallen angel Satan. Satan was the most magnificent of the angels according to legend but like all angels Satan lacked free will. This particular subject caused debate in more recent theology because this would then mean that God causes evil by creating something that must be evil. Some theologian’s then changed things stating that angels were given one choice… but I’m not so certain that this reflects ancient beliefs of good and evil. You see, Satan was prideful and became jealous when man was created. God loved man so much that he gave man the gift of free will… something Satan would never have. This eventually led to a chain of events in which the prideful Satan sought to overthrow God.

Does this story sound familiar? A being that is really incapable of having free will being jealous of it and causing them to be prideful and to no longer be subservient… similar to what is postulated about the psychopath. While the story of Satan may or may not be true the belief in such things isn’t as important as the fact that regardless this story is a reflection of the ancient mind’s personification of evil. What is evil? Where does evil come from? What are the traits of evil? Satan embodies this and his story shows the traits of the beginning and origin of evil.

The man committing this heinous act in Connecticut was, like so many other people that cause evil, a psychopath. He didn’t care about the feelings of anyone and through his life the only reason he ever cared to know how his actions would impact the feelings of another was to understand how to best manipulate others. His hatred of one given target’s freedom from his dominance caused him to resort to extreme measures to remove this freedom. He took delight thinking of how he would make this target cry… and force them to do this. The same rung true in terms of forcing the terror in these others he shot down. It was a combination of having absolutely no regard for the feelings of anyone else and the delight of removing the free will of others. The ultimate rush was then killing himself and assuring the reverse scenario (exerting control of him) would never be realized.

What we will get in terms of an explanation will be anything but this. If a note was left it won’t tell you the true reason behind these actions. It will most likely be a note filled with self-pity and an attempt to elicit pity from those who read it. This pity is just another form of control and the note was left as an attempt to control others after the fact. Nothing gathered in terms of information is going to fully explain the actions better than the biological factors leading to psychopathy in this individual. Still, explanations will be offered.

The explanations will be scapegoats and more than likely other psychopaths are going to further their own agenda of control through offering up scapegoats. More than likely we will hear arguments about gun control (key word “control”) and the media. Some will make excuses for this person although what he has done is inexcusable. Similar to the tragedy in Columbine in which people blamed music artists, video games teachers, parents, the victims themselves, and various other possible factors I suspect many similar targets will be presented after this tragedy with no regard for the victim’s beliefs or what truly played a part in the tragedy. You see, to the psychopath that has no empathy this is an opportunity and not a tragedy. This is a chance to write a speech… or this article (which I had previously planned but decided to finish in the wake of this tragedy in an attempt to put an end to this non-sense before it really gets rolling).

You see, evidence also shows that psychopaths often end up in positions of power and wealth. They are CEO’s and presidents and hold political roles. Those leading us right now appear to often be psychopaths and as such the mainstream media and government will simply use this to further agendas. That agenda will not be awareness of psychopathy or awareness that this person was a psychopath. They won’t try to tell you how to spot a psychopath or how to protect yourself. There certainly will not be discussion on solutions to the problems posed by psychopaths.

The reason this will not be an agenda that will be furthered is that these controlling interests are psychopaths and in their ever self-serving agenda knowledge that they are psychopaths is the last thing they want to get out to the public. As such, people will remain largely ignorant to the existence of psychopaths even though this individual causing all this pain is a psychopath and that this psychopathy is the principle reason behind his actions causing this tragedy (far more than any other reason given). On top of that people, if exposed to this, will try to minimize it as is described above so as to ignore the issue and the discomfort of the knowledge that some people were born predestined to arrive in hell, these people are prevalent, and to date we have no policy that effectively deals with this evil.

It seems each day we are exposed to information via the news of some evil act most likely perpetrated by a psychopath. Connections are not made as the topic seems almost purposefully ignored in the media. They act baffled by evil acts while the answers are readily available.

Let me take a stab at the big underlying questions behind this tragedy. How could this tragedy happen? We have no effective policy for psychopaths. How could someone do this? They were not held back through emotion for any other person… the only thing holding them back was their own consequences which were minimized through suicide. Why would they do it? They wanted to control others and something happened where they lost control of someone. The answers are too simple when you understand the psychopathic mind.

Considering these barriers, if this seems to be information you think is important please help to spread it. Show it to others and send them the link. Allow this awareness to spread.

If you would like proof of suppression of this topic… a current news search on this tragedy when the word psychopath is included yields just 4 valid results none of which come from the mainstream media.

I have written previously on psychopathy and there are some great resources out there to allow you to understand psychopathy.